Prisoner sues to stop pepper spray bombs ‘making grown men cry’

By Guyon Espiner, RNZ

An asthmatic woman who was pepper-sprayed in her Auckland prison cell goes to the Supreme Court to prevent Corrections from gassing inmates in the future.

Karma Cripps, her partner Mihi Bassett and two other inmates were gassed inside their cells at Auckland Women’s Prison, RNZ revealed in November.

Cripps’ attorney, human rights specialist Douglas Ewen, filed documents in Wellington Superior Court alleging that using a special product to inject pepper spray into cells makes gas an illegal weapon and also violates the laws they protect. against torture and inhuman treatment.

RNZ may disclose that the product used by Corrections is called Cell Buster, which is marketed under the slogan “Making adult men cry since 1975.”

The American company that makes it, Saber, promotes its product using images of men who have had their faces sprayed with a wince.

Saber sorts its different pepper spray products using a thermometer chart, which bursts into flames for its strongest spray, the Saber Red capsaicinoids, the one Corrections uses in New Zealand prisons.

The company’s promotional video says Cell Buster produces a pepper spray, “which contaminates the cell and inflames the inmate’s respiratory tract.” He says that “the coughing and irritation produced by the cell killer generally results in a much more cooperative recluse.”

Court documents obtained by RNZ show that Cripps’ case specifically mentions the fact that the Auckland Women’s Prison used Cell Buster pepper spray against her despite knowing that she was asthmatic.

Cripps defense attorney Hannah Kim told RNZ last month Corrections was risking lives by gassing women in their cells, especially when the tactic was used on prisoners with asthma.

Amnesty International Aotearoa has called for an immediate end to the use of Cell Buster in prisons.

The Cell Buster has been used 27 times in New Zealand prisons since 2016. No serious injuries have been publicly reported, although Kim’s concerns appear to have been confirmed in the United States.

In June, Jamel Floyd, a 35-year-old black inmate with asthma, died after being pepper sprayed in his cell at the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center in New York.

His death followed that of Darnell McMillian, a 38-year-old black man, who died after being sprayed with Cell Buster in the Alabama prison, although the cause of death has yet to be confirmed.

A 2003 US Department of Justice study of 63 deaths in which inmates had been pepper spray found that the gas contributed to two of the deaths and that in both cases the inmate had asthma.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXC6eYzoG00

In New Zealand, Corrections custodial director Neil Beales has said prisons were justified in using Cell Buster against inmates deemed a security risk, including those with asthma.

On December 14, a Wellington Superior Court judge will hear the legal offer to stop the Corrections through Cell Buster.

In his statement of claim, attorney Douglas Ewen, representing Cripps, said that Cell Buster was in a different league than ordinary pepper spray because, instead of a shot aimed at the face, he injected himself with a hose into the cells. in large volumes using a fire-like canister. extinguisher.

“Pepper spray applied with a Cell Buster causes an intense and unbearable burning sensation,” says the legal claim.

Under section 85 of the Prisons Act 2004, the use of non-lethal weapons must be “compatible with the humane treatment of prisoners” and the benefits of their use must outweigh the potential risks.

Ewen claims that those grounds have not been met and that the use of Cell Buster against Cripps and other inmates at Auckland Women’s Prison was illegal as it was not duly authorized under the Corrections Act.

The case also argues that the use of Cell Buster violates the Rights Act of 1990 by subjecting inmates to torture and degrading treatment.

“The use of a Cell Buster to dispense pepper spray to prisoners in the manner for which it is designed and for which it is used by the department causes severe pain and suffering to those prisoners.”

Green Party Corrections spokesman Golriz Ghahraman called on Corrections Minister Davis to stop the use of Cell Buster in his department, which he described as a “harmful and rather terrifying tool” used as part of a punitive prison culture.

“So we release people back into the community and say ‘this was our justice solution to crime’? Well, I think in the future, we are probably making our communities less safe.”

Davis said that while he was aware of the court action, he would not declare a moratorium on Cell Buster as it was an operational matter for his department and he would not intervene.

Alan Whitley, president of the Corrections Association, the Corrections Officers union, said it would be a “sad day” for prison security if Cell Buster were banned.

“It would make the prisons less safe, definitely for the personnel who have to enter those cells,” he said. “If we have to use physical methods to get the prisoners out (control, restraint and shields), this will also make it more unsafe for them.”

Whitley said he had been sprayed with Cell Buster as part of a training exercise. “He has mucus and a runny nose, his throat is tight and it becomes difficult to breathe. His eyes are watery.”

When asked to rate the impact, on a scale where zero was not an issue and 10 was unbearable, he said it would be a seven or eight.

“It’s quite unpleasant. But remember what we are trying to do is get someone out of the cell who is in a violent situation, they may be destroying their cell, they may threaten to self-harm, they may have a gun on them. I have to do. something about “.